I was recently informed by a pet-drug company sales rep that if you weren't feeding within the recommended guidelines on the back of the bag of dog food (say, for a 50 pound dog 2-3 1/2 cups of food a day or what have you) that your dog wasn't getting the entire amount of nutrition it needed from the food it was consuming.

True, or false? I'm inclined to believe false, but wanted to get other opinions.

I ask, because Chloe only eats a cup of food a day and she is a 45 pound dog. That is what she is maintaining her weight at (she's actually still a bit too heavy for my liking), so that is what she gets. If I fed her the recommended 2 cups of food a day she'd be fat as a blimp. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't depriving her of nutrients because of that.

False. They push more food than necessary because they want to sell more food. typically. It also varies a lot depending on activity level. a 50 pound coach potato is going to need a lot less than a 50 pound working dog.

Each kibble is pretty identical ingredient wise. So it's not like when a kid doesn't finish his plate/only eats his mashed potatoes and leaves his vegetables.. the kibbles are all the same, so regardless of how MUCH they eat, they are still getting all the nutrition from all the ingredients used to make each kibble. Their body might NEED MORE of it to work, but either way, it's all there.

If she is maintaining weight and doing well on 1 cup then 1 cup is what you should be feeding. All the nutrition is in there and her body is telling you she has enough food and calories to work just fine

__________________

Disclaimer: I work for Trupanion and love it/our policy! But I do not speak for the company or as the company.

False. They push more food than necessary because they want to sell more food. typically. It also varies a lot depending on activity level. a 50 pound coach potato is going to need a lot less than a 50 pound working dog.

Each kibble is pretty identical ingredient wise. So it's not like when a kid doesn't finish his plate/only eats his mashed potatoes and leaves his vegetables.. the kibbles are all the same, so regardless of how MUCH they eat, they are still getting all the nutrition from all the ingredients used to make each kibble. Their body might NEED MORE of it to work, but either way, it's all there.

If she is maintaining weight and doing well on 1 cup then 1 cup is what you should be feeding. All the nutrition is in there and her body is telling you she has enough food and calories to work just fine

That. And it's about the ratios of then nutrients, I would assume. As long as the dog is getting enough calories to maintain a healthy weight, and as long as the food is balanced, there's nothing to worry about.

Did you ask him if feeding a skinny dog more than recommended makes them overdoes on vitamins? LOL That was my first thought.

That's the first time I've ever heard that before. Wonder where that info came from? I mean, yeah, lots of dogs would get fat on the recommended amounts... so what are we supposed to do to keep them at a healthy weight if this were actually true? (which it's not).

__________________

And if all of it is for naught, well at least I took a shot
Juno 2009 :: Happy 2000 :: Lucy 2006 :: Cajun 2013